Thursday, 30 January 2014

So I have to say that this was seriously one of the best birthdays ever! Who would have thought? I woke up in the morning to our wall decorated with balloons and notes from hna thomas and hna Fox and thenn we went and played soccer! (unfortunately we lost, but it was a blast).

After we went out and taught, had some really awesome citas and hna Kofe informed every single person that we passed that it was my birthday (embarrassing haha).

Came home for lunch and opened my packages! (they were suuuuper rad by the way!) and were completely surprised by the girls in Lotes y servicios. They got permission to come to our house at lunch and surprised us at our back window with cake and a super awesome rendition of ¨happy birthday¨. luckily we had made soooooo much food and were able to all share and hang out . It really was the best.

And afterwards we were able to leave with our ward mission leader for some citas (I told him he couldnt bail and that it was his birthday present to me!) He followed through and we ended the night with my new favorite (and not to mention calorie-filled) food Yaroa! (fries cheese chicken mayo and ketchup) complete with candles that were relighting and impossible to blow out. And ended with a sweet call from my babycakes hna petersen (shes doing awesome by the wayy super proud of my 1st daughter) Nothing like starting out twenty-two and 10 pounds heavierrrrr haha, But I couldn't have asked for anything better, it did not disappoint. So thank you.

So here is my story from this week. The other sisters had a baptism last saturday and we were running around like crazy trying to find our investigators and invite them to come. Everything was falling through. So we quicked and stopped by E´s house. Shes an older woman that we´ve been teaching. She was taught by the elders a long time ago, but found us again and really just seems golden. Every time that we teach her, she is so excited and willing to apply everything immediately without any hesitation. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of faith that she has and the incredible blessings that she has seen because of her willingness to change and grow. So we showed up at her house 15 minutes before the baptism and without having too much hope that she would be able to go on such late notice, we told her about it and asked if she would be interested in going. Without a second thought, or even saying anything to us, she called to her daughter and said ´me voy´, to let her know that she was leaving, and threw on a skirt. It ended up being a really spiritual experience for her and neat to be able to see a baptism. She is always talking about how she feels such a ¨positive energy¨ in our church. She reads, she studies, she sacrafices, and for that very reason, she's received her answer. She's working on a few things, but we´re hoping by the end of the month she´ll be able to be baptized!! It never ceases to amazes me how prepared some people really are for this gospel.

and on a funny note. We were teaching the flia Acosta, and one of the little boys started talking to me and said ¨if you eat a lot one day, you're going to be a princesa gorda¨ and then informed that, in english, that is a ¨fat princess¨. He thought it was hilariouss. Where kids come up with this stuff, I will never know, but they crack me up!

Monday, 13 January 2014

Transfers came and I´m staying with Hermana Kofe in the same area, but one of the other girls in our house is leaving, and Hermana Thomas, from my CCM district (on the left with the 'thumbs up') is coming to be her comp. It will be so fun to live with her and celebrate our 'one year' together in Feb!

That makes Hna Kofe my longest comp so far, and I will have only been in two areas for 6 months each by the time next transfers come around!

This week has been a roller coaster; but I'm happy and healthy and up for the challenge to make this a good transfer, and I know that it's in these moments, that we superrrr accelerate and learn tons more!

After 4 hours of playing soccer --

(which, turns out I still really suck at, but it's great exercise & we have a lot of fun playing as a district. They are patient when I kick in the wrong direction & are good enough to make up for me. Also, can I just say, I don't think I've ever used those muscles? Charley horses like crazy the last couple days - ahaha!),

we came home and celebrated my

11-month mark -- Time is Flying!!

My companion knows me too well - she got me a Diet Coke

and Midnight Milky Way!

(and you can tell from the angle of this pic,

kenzie's companion is a tad taller than her!!)

These pics are from a Family Home Evening that we did with Sandy´s family (and some neighbor kids too). We played "Don't Eat Pete" with these nasty mouse gummies, I got as a gag gift! It was awesome!

Monday, 6 January 2014

I´m freaking out, I had no idea that Shannon was engaged! But that is way awesome and she looks super super super cute haha!! Wish I could have said congrats! These are the moments when I feel so out of the loop out here!

I´m so glad to hear that everything is going well, and that abbie is doing ok! I sent off a note to her new email last week, but I´m not sure if she's seen it or even written yet today. Dang time difference.

It seriously really weirds me out that she is already gone and started in the ccm. I just can hardly get over how fast time passes -- I'll be 22 soon! Freaking old!

This week has been good, the best part was actually being allowed to do some service, in addition to our normal missionary-sharing-the-gospel service! And the best part is it was PAINTING! 3 times in one week. Crazy right? I just kept thinking about how annoyed I was when we painted our WHOLE house back when we built the addition, and now I basically just feel like a pro from all of that practice. Although, I will say, that the whole time, I was thinking how dad would absolutely die from how un-organized it was. No taping stuff off, and we cut in all the corners SECOND. Haha ... but it was awesome, and they all really appreciated the help.

But we really did have a good week. Set a baptismal date with one of our investigators who is absolutely awesome. She has a lot of challenges coming up (including children who are superrrr unsupportive of her decision) but I think that she really is ready. She came to the church Sunday and said at the end that it was absolutely ¨the best day¨. I'm so excited. She always has the coolest questions when we teach her and she always teaches back to us what she has learned.

Anddd transfers are coming up at the end of this week! I have 4 and a half months in this area, and for the first time ever, I really really don't want to leave it. It hasn't been easy here, but things are finally starting to settle in, and move forward. It would be a bummer getting transferred right before we get to see the fruits of our labors... but it happens, so I guess I just need to be patient and wait out the calll.

And on a side note, I know you were super stressed about talking at the baptism mom, but I have to say that I understand what you´re feeling because my ward just asked me to speak next sunday on how to give missionaries referrals. I´m super super stressed about doing it all in spanish (I´ve been pretty stressed with mine the last couple of weeks) so we´ll see how it goes. Wish me luck.

Sandy and his family are doing well. They weren't able to come to church this past week, but they listen in every lesson, and they are reading their scriptures, we´re hoping that they can